Paying Child Support in Virginia

It is common for parties to ask their child support attorneys to pursue a commitment to contribute to college expenses and other expenses for the children that are outside the scope of child support. However, the court does not have jurisdiction to order it, so if the parties do not agree to it, it is not going to happen. There would have to be an agreement to pay these expenses outside the scope of child support. Traditionally, these kinds of agreements are more common in cases where there is a high income level between the parties or an enormous amount of assets between the parties.

Otherwise people typically do not enter into those kinds of agreement, partly because if the court does not have the authority to order, for example child support payments, then if somebody meets financial ruin unexpectedly and wants to get relief from that, the courts does not have the authority to let that person out of that obligation. If you are building a case that involves paying child support in Virginia, you should consult with an attorney to make sure all considerations of payment are understood.

Payment Period and Obligations

Child support is typically paid either on a monthly basis or with each pay period of the person who is making the payment. Sometimes people get paid each month, and sometimes people get paid every two weeks. It is common for child support to be broken down in such a way that it can be paid in part out of each of the obligor’s pay periods.

Additionally, the parties can do different things in terms of how the actual payment gets made to the recipients. Some people will agree that a check will be written or a deposit will be made into an account voluntarily by the paying party. In other cases, the parties will make the payment through a wage withholding, meaning that is comes directly out of the person’s pay check and gets sent to the recipient.

Payments Not Considered Child Support

There are a lot of different payments that can be outside of the scope of child support in Virginia. If parties sign an agreement saying that they are going to make contributions to higher education, such as college or grad school, that would legally be outside of the scope of child support. If parties make promises to pay certain expenses for a child such as car insurance, those kinds of costs are not traditionally considered to be child support and so that would be outside of the scope of traditional child support award payments.

Evidence to Determine Payments

The attorney is going to use evidence of each party’s income to determine payments in Virginia child support cases. The attorney is going to use evidence of what the health insurance  cost is that is attributable to the children’s coverage. They might also use documentation of child care costs that are related to work. They could also use documentation showing that one or the other party was already responsible for supporting a minor child from another relationship.

In a case where a party might be asking for a deviation from a support guideline, that attorney might bring in the evidence on finances if, for example, one party has an enormous amount of financial resources where the other does not, or if the child has substantial needs that would not adequately be covered by the child support guidelines then the attorney would bring in evidence of what those needs are in order to try and convince the court to deviate from the child support guideline.

Benefits of a Child Support Attorney

If you are building a case that involves paying child support in Virginia, you should consult with a child support lawyer. Creating financial obligations for child support can be confusing and complicated, so you might need a skilled and professional attorney to represent you in court. A skilled Virginia legal team has the knowledge and resources to insure that your child receives appropriate child support.